Schalke vs Man City result: City show they are more than Plan A but Pep Guardiola knows they are not yet ready

Manchester City have maybe the best Plan A in world football, but in Gelsenkirchen they had to find a different way to win. Five minutes left, down to 10 men, 2-1 behind, needing a goal to get back into the tie, but terrified of losing by more. They were on the brink of disaster, and knew that to go out of the Champions League at this stage, to this opposition, would be one of the worst moments of the Pep Guardiola era.

But how much of a surprise was it to see City floundering this way in the second half? Because there have been times in the last few months when City have played as poorly as this, in a winnable away game, and have done so in precisely the same ways,. Go 1-0 up early on. Start to think it will be even easier than expected. Lose motivation, lose focus, concede twice and lose. That was the way at Leicester at Christmas, that set back their title bid, and at Newcastle last month, that nearly sunk it. And it felt like this was heading that way too.

What City’s failures this season have had in common is a sense that when Plan A does not work, that there is no alternative. That is no bad thing when Plan A is delivering results like beating Chelsea 6-0, as it did last week, City slicing through Chelsea with every attack. The form of Sergio Aguero, the king of the close range finish from the low pull-back, is testament to that. Last night he scored his 24th goal of the season.

But what City sometimes lack this season is a sense of individuality, of players taking the game by the scruff of the neck if they have to. Last season they could lean on Kevin De Bruyne to produce a long-range shot or pass just to change the tempo of the game and break it open. This year, with De Bruyne out with knee injuries, it has been Plan A or nowhere. And City’s pursuit of perfection has been accused of being predictable.

What stood out in Gelsenkirchen then, when Plan A could not get City through, is that invention and individuality won City the game. Guardiola insisted afterwards that he was “delighted” with the performance, which was “incredibly good”. But another view is that City did not look like scoring until one player did it all himself.

Leroy Sane would have loved to start here, back at the ground where he emerged as a footballer, but he had to wait until there were 13 minutes left to come on for Aguero. Even then he had a quiet start, but when City won a free-kick on 85 minutes he wanted to take it. From a dead central position it could have belonged to De Bruyne too, but he was not having a good night. Sane whipped it with his instep, over the ball and down, in off the inside of the top of the far post. There was nothing the goalkeeper could have done. It was a moment of brilliant individual audacity, skill and seizing moment, precisely what City had been missing.

The winning goal five minutes later also arrived almost out of the blue. The ball was back with Ederson in the City box and he thumped it forward up for Raheem Sterling, who nudged the left-back out of the way, nodded the ball down and slotted it in while Schalke were still getting over conceding Sane’s free-kick. For a team who can sometimes look ponderous and predictable in possession, it was joyously direct.

So you can argue that City did not do what they set out to against Schalke, and that they will have to play better in the main in the next round. Or you can applaud them for scoring a second and third away goal at the very end of the game, putting one foot in the quarter-finals, finding different routes to goal when the traditional plans were exhausted. Ultimately in the Champions League you need to be excellent but also inventive, especially up against defences like Atletico Madrid.

What is unarguable though is that the mistakes City made before Sane saved them, giving away two penalties, Nicolas Otamendi getting sent off, would be fatal against a serious side. “It is not enough in this competition. We gave them the first goal, we gave the second goal and we gave the red card,” Guardiola said. “If you have that in other stages, it is over. In that level, we do not have a chance, we are not ready to fight for the Champions League.”